During his almost two decades in the soccer elite he was always a different player. Gerard Piqué was characterized by not mincing words and by investigating new business models to revive the sports sector. Retired since last November, now he is no longer the center of the spotlight in the king of sports, as he used to be every time he strayed from the stipulated path, and for a few days his reformulated working life has a new illusion.
The former Barça player is the ideologue, president and creator with his company Kosmos of the Kings League, a competition based on football-7, still with a ball and two goals as a starting point, but with a totally different development and result. , focused on entertainment. “We wanted to make a football product, but different. It is a show that involves many more things”, explains the general director of the project, Oriol Querol, to La Vanguardia.
The monarchical reference of the name of the tournament could well respond to the majority of the presidents of the 12 teams that make up the league. Some of its owners are the kings of internet entertainment, referents of the youth of a constantly changing society, on the back of the dizzying pace of technology and new ways of communicating.
Ibai Llanos, president of Porcinos FC, is the best known and the one that has reached the ears of previous generations, but the project is supported by other great streamers, also called content creators: TheGrefg (Saiyans FC), DjMaRiiO (Ultimate Móstoles) , Adri Contreras (El Barrio), Rivers (Pio FC), Juan Guarnizo (Aniquiladores FC), Perxitaa (Los Troncos FC), Spursito (Rayo de Barcelona), Hermanos Buyer (Xbuyer Team) and Gerard Romero (Jijantes FC). The first day, held on January 1 at the Port of Barcelona and broadcast on Twitch, was a success with audience peaks of 800,000 people and an average of 450,000. “The best thing is the model. In addition to our tournament Twitch channel, the fun is that streamers can broadcast it on their channels. Everything is free”, adds Querol.
“We rely on stars who have a young audience,” explains the leader of the Kings League, although they are also looking for “a broader audience”, the children of the last century who still do not understand the attraction behind so much Anglicism. Stream, hype, beef, caster… For this they have names that do arouse or arouse interest for traditional soccer fans, ex-players or even active players who were once stars. Javier Hernández Chicharito, Raúl Tamudo, Joan Capdevila, Joan Verdú, Jonathan Soriano and Sergio García, among others, played the first game and for the second day names such as Ibai Gómez or Javier Saviola will be added, as well as in the future that of Ricardinho futsal player.
Added to this list of players is Iker Casillas, president of the 1K FC team, and Sergio Kun Agüero, Kunisports manager who will also play on matchday four. “The presidents convince the players. They are very influential people. The soccer players know them or in the case of Tamudo they are discovered by his children, who are fans of some streamers, ”says Querol.
The project “is born from the run run” that defends the lack of interest in soccer among adolescents, who are finding it increasingly “harder to endure a whole game” that can end goalless and in a draw. “We did a reflection. We find the rules boring, so let’s add more interesting and unpredictable ones”.
The Kings League is characterized by being especially transparent, with microphones and cameras for referees and coaches, and above all by some very revolutionary rules. The matches, divided into two 20-minute parts, begin with a water polo-style serve, placing the ball in the center of the field and the players running towards the ball from their goals.
When regulation time ends in a tie, the game is decided with a peculiar penalty shootout based on the American MLS experiment of the 90s: a one-on-one between the shooter and the goalkeeper that starts from midfield. But the most groundbreaking norms are the so-called “secret weapons”. The coaches choose an envelope before the game where they have advantages that consist of a penalty in favor, a double goal for two minutes and the temporary expulsion of an opposing player. The champion will come out of a playoff with the best eight that will end with a final four on March 26.
The making of the insoles is also innovative. Of the 12 players on the teams, 10 have come out of a draft to which 1,300 people submitted, most of them from the Barcelona metropolitan area, while number 11 is usually a well-known former player who will be there all season and number 12 can change each game, also an old acquaintance of traditional football.
“What we have achieved with the draft is that kids who are in the Catalan First Division or in the RFEF Second Division, with a very high level but without visibility, go to a competition where they can become idols for all youngsters. We only demand one hour a week from them, the training sessions are voluntary”, Querol says of the ten players, who are paid per game as employees of the competition. The remuneration or agreements with the other two footballers are the responsibility of the presidents. At the moment, the financial support of the tournament are the sponsors.
“I was surprised by the level of the players and the intensity,” Gerard Romero, journalist and president of Jijantes FC, which is also the name of his Twitch channel, told this newspaper. “Piqué I suppose I expected him to be a hit but not with these numbers. I have been shocked by this repercussion. Also on a personal level, I am shocked that they talk to me on the street about the league ”, concludes the Catalan streamer. Today the second day of a Kings League with a potential still to be deciphered, but which already has the favor of the restless minds of young people.
